The paper attempts to align brand portfolio management with the concepts of energy and relevance in brand management based on a comparative analysis of three brand equity models. Despite the extreme focus on brand relevance during the last years, it is argued that brand energy might be an even more crucial concept for long-term brand survival.

Brand equity is one of the most critical concepts within brand management today and it is continuously measured globally in both psychological and financial terms. For the first time in history, Coca-Cola Company was replaced by Apple as the most financially valuable brand according to Interbrands (2013) measuring of the strongest global brands. The emergence of brand equity discussions in the theoretical literature incrementally broadens the basis of the brand value discussion from mere name recognition to associations and loyalty for the brand (Aaker, 1991). There are also more critical attempts to argue for and against a concept such as brand equity (Barwise, 1993) to innovating conceptualizations, aimed at explaining brand equity for co-branding in terms of composite concepts such as reach-awareness co-branding (Blackett and Boad, 1999).

Brand Management Journal, Energy Versus Relevance, Comparative Brand Equity, Implications, Embedded Brand Energy, Brand Stature, Brand Strength Model, Brand Portfolio Management.